2 The Composition and Characteristics of Households in
Scotland

Three out of ten adults in Scotland reported a long-term health
condition.

This is increasing over time.

A quarter of all adults in Scotland are permanently retired from
work

Over a third of people in Scotland live alone

Only five per cent of households in Scotland are two adult
families with three or more children, or three or more adult
families with one or more children.

Six out of ten households in Scotland are owner-occupier

Almost six out of 10 households in Scotland earn less than
£25,000 a year

2.1 Introduction and Context

This chapter describes the types of homes in Scotland and who
lives in them.

Collecting information on age, disability, ethnicity, religion,
gender, and sexual orientation provides an important contribution
to the overall equality evidence base. This is used by policy
makers to target services and tackle discrimination and
disadvantage. The Scottish Household Survey (
SHS) collects
information about all household members, including children.

The age and number of people in the household are combined to
give a ‘household type’. The
SHS uses eight
household types defined as follows:

A
single adult household – contains one
adult of 16-64 year olds and no children.

A
single parent household – contains one
adult of any age and one or more children.

A
single older – household contains one
adult of pensionable age and no children. Pensionable age is 60
for women and 65 for men.

A
small family household – contains two
adults of any age and one or two children.

An
older smaller household – contains one
adult of 16-64 year olds and one of pensionable age and no
children, or two adults of pensionable age and no children.

A
large adult household – contains three or
more adults and no children.

A
small adult household – contains two
adults of 16-64 year olds and no children.

A
large family household – contains two
adults of any age and three or more children, or three or more
adults of any age and one or more children.

Technical survey information

A technical description of why we have information on adults and
households and where the Highest Income Householder (
HIH) fits in
is required.

The highest income householder gives the characteristics of all
household members, including children and answers questions on
characteristics of the household. Then, one of the adults in the
household completes another part of the interview (‘random
adult’), which is mostly around behaviour and attitudes.

The characteristics of adults, households and the Highest Income
Householder (
HIH) are
described below. Due to the method of collecting this data, the
household member characteristics of gender and age will be
accurately reported. However, whether a member of the household has
a long standing illness or disability is thought to be under
reported as the household reference person may not know of
individuals’ conditions.

2.2 All Household Members

Information on all household members shows:

a quarter of people are over 60 years old.

there are slightly more women than men in Scotland.

there is an increasing number of people with a long-term
health condition

The gender and age of all household members as well as whether a
household member has a long-term illness or disability
[18] are presented in
Table 2.1.

Table 2.1: Characteristics of all household
membersColumn percentages, 2016 data
All household members

Gender

Male

49

Female

51

Total

100

Base

22,760

Age

0-15

17

16-24

11

25-34

13

35-44

12

45-59

21

60-74

17

75+

8

Total

100

Base

22,760

Long-term physical or mental health
condition

Yes

22

No

78

Total

100

Base

22,670

2.3 Adults in Private Households

Questions asked of individuals show that the population in
Scotland is largely white, ageing and three out of ten adults
have a long-term limiting physical or mental health
condition.

A second part of the interview selects one adult at random. In
one person households, this is the same person. More detailed
questions are asked of this ‘random adult’.

Table 2.2 to
2.8 present equality characteristics of
adults, based on those selected to take part in the ‘random
adult’ interview. These tables provide estimates for age,
gender, marital status, ethnicity, current economic situation of
all adults and 16-64 year olds adults, whether they have a long
term illness or disability, sexual orientation and religion of
adults in Scotland.

The results show that the population in Scotland is largely
white, ageing and three out of ten adults have a long-term limiting
physical or mental health condition. Changes over time show health
is worsening.

Examination of the time series data shows an increase in the
percentage of adults reporting a long-term health condition (
Figure 2.1). In 2016, three out of ten
adults (30 per cent) reported a long-term physical or mental health
condition, an increase from 27 per cent in 2012.

Examining the economic status of all adults and then a subset of
16-64 year olds adults shows some interesting results (
Table 2.4). A quarter of all adults are
permanently retired from work and five per cent of 16-64 year olds
adults are also retired. Only four per cent of 16-64 year olds
adults are unemployed and seeking work.

Looking at the economic status of selected groups of adults and
how this has changed over time also presents some interesting
results (
Figure 2.2). The proportion of those who
are permanently retired from work increased from 22 per cent in
1999 to 25 per cent in 2016. Similarly, the proportion of adults in
further or higher education increased from four per cent in 1999 to
six per cent in 2016, while the proportion of those looking after
the home or family has been decreasing, from eight per cent in 1999
to five per cent in 2016.

The question on sexual orientation was introduced to the
SHS in 2011 as
one of the Scottish Government’s “core” questions
[19]. Developed by the Office for National Statistics, the question
was designed to provide accurate statistics to underpin the
equality monitoring responsibilities of public sector organisations
and to assess the disadvantage or relative discrimination
experienced by the lesbian, gay and bisexual population. It should
be noted that estimates on self-identified sexual orientation from
the
SHS are likely
to under-represent the lesbian, gay and bisexual population.
Potential reasons for this are discussed in
Annex 2: Glossary.

Religion

Religious belonging in Scotland is declining over time.

Around a half of adults reported that they don’t belong
to a religion.

Since the harmonised question on religious belonging was
introduced to the
SHS in 2009,
there has been an upward trend in the proportion of adults
reporting not belonging to a religion, from 40 per cent in 2009 to
just over a half of adults (51 per cent)
[20] in 2016 (
Figure 2.3). There has also been a
corresponding decrease in the proportion reporting belonging to
‘Church of Scotland’, from 34 per cent to 24 per
cent.

Formerly in a same-sex civil partnership which is now
legally dissolved.

0

Widowed.

7

Surviving partner from a same-sex civil partnership

0

Refused

0

Total

100

Base

9,640

Figure 2.4 shows the relationships between
current marital status and adults of different ages. Of those
adults aged 16 to 24 in 2016, the vast majority (97 per cent) have
never been married or been in a same sex civil partnership. For
those in the age bands between 35 to 74, marriage is the
predominant status and accounts for 60 per cent of adults across
these categories. The proportion married or in a civil partnership
then drops off slightly for those aged 75 or over (48 per cent)
with fewer adults (40 per cent) in this age group reporting being
widowed or a bereaved civil partner.

Household type is derived from the details collected from the
household respondent about all household members, using a
combination of age and number of people in the household. Full
definitions of each household type are included in
section 2.1. Combining the data in this
way provides an indicator of the life stage and family circumstance
of households.

Family circumstance of households

Less than one in four households in Scotland contain
children.

There are very few families in Scotland with three or more
children.

Over a third of people in Scotland live alone.

Over a third of people in Scotland live alone (35 per cent).
Only five per cent of households in Scotland are two adult families
with three or more children, or three or more adult families with
one or more children. Less than one in five of households in
Scotland contain children (
Table 2.9).

House type and tenure

Most people in Scotland live in a house or bungalow.

Owner-occupier is the most common type of tenure.

Nearly two-thirds of people in Scotland live in a house or a
bungalow with the remaining third living in a flat. Owner-occupier
is the most common type of tenure with six out of ten adults living
in a home they own outright or are buying, followed by nearly a
quarter in the social rented sector. The private rented sector is
growing in Scotland. More information on this is contained in
Chapter 3 on housing.

Area type

Over four in five people in Scotland live in urban areas
(including small towns) (83 per cent), with only 17 per cent in
rural areas.

Income

Almost six out of ten households in Scotland earn less than
£25,000 a year and only 20 per cent of Scottish households
earn more than £40,000 a year.

Please note that the Scottish Household Survey is not the
preferred source of income data. Income data in the
SHS is mainly
collected to be used to explain other results. The official source
of income statistics for Scotland is the Family Resource Survey (
FRS). Modelled
local level household income estimates provide the best source of
income data at a sub-Scotland level. Results from both are
available from the Scottish Government website
[22].